City of Cedar Rapids loans University of Iowa empty sandbags as Iowa River floods

Council member Tom Podzimek reports that the city of Cedar Rapids helped out the University of Iowa this week by loaning the university 3,000 empty sandbags as the Iowa River was rising and readying to flood in Iowa City.

The city of Cedar Rapids also offered to provide the university with "sweeper sand," the sand picked up off city streets this spring from its use on city streets this winter, according to an internal City Hall e-mail made public by Podzimek.

The university didn't need the sand.

In the e-mail, Craig Hanson, the city of Cedar Rapids' public works maintenance manager, reported that the city had 120,000 empty sand bags on hand. He called the sharing with the University of Iowa "being a good neighbor."

In the e-mails shared by Podzimek, City Manager Jim Prosser applauds Hanson for his decision and "excellent preparations" to have sand bags on hand to loan out.

Prosser called it "an example of the fact that so much of our best work goes unnoticed because we avoid problems."